Japanese Title: Explosive Evolution! Greymon
As the kids fall towards the river, they're saved by Gomamon, who summons a large number of fishes to carry them to safety. The Digimon explain that they've "evolved"note . (Koushirou immediately lampshades the incorrect use of the term, but it's quickly ignored.) They inform the children that they were always incapable of evolving on their own, but the kids' presence has somehow made it possible.
With that, the kids try to figure out where they are and how to get back to camp. Taichi, having seen the ocean earlier, decides to go there to see if he can get any leads. Jou believes the best course of action is to "stay put and wait for the adults to save us" - but is quickly left behind by the others and is forced to chase them.
The kids make their way to the ocean and come across a bunch of mysterious ringing phone booths there. They attempt to use the phone booths there, but when attempting to call home...
- The time is now 35:82:90 AM. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep!
Tomorrow’s weather will be sunny, with occasional ice cream.
The number you dialed is no longer in service. Calling again is pointless!
After that failure, Yamato decides the best course of action is to wait for someone to possibly call them back; Taichi wants to go forward, but Yamato points out that everyone is tired. While trying to get some food, Sora notices the mysterious blue device that fell from the sky and everyone confirms they have one, but before they can think more on what they are, Koushirou’s stomach growls and they look over their minimal rations.
While Takeru brings out some of the candy he has, Mimi observes that Takeru isn’t from their school and Takeru states he came to the camp to visit his older brother. Koushirou and Taichi wonder if Takeru and Yamato are cousins, since Takeru has a different surname from Yamato but still calls him “older brother”. This will be important later.
Finally, the kids find out that Jou happens to have the entire emergency food supply, which he tries to hand over to Mimi. The kids promptly fuss over the food, finding that they only have enough for two and a half days for all seven of them (assuming that the Digimon find food for themselves), but Taichi and Agumon quickly gorge themselves.
Before long, the kids are attacked by a Digimon called Shellmon. The Digimon try to fight it off, but because the Digimon haven’t eaten in a while, they’re all out of energy — with the exception of Agumon, who ate with Taichi earlier. The two of them try to fight off the Shellmon, but are quickly overtaken. Shellmon proceeds to attack the other defenseless kids and Digimon, and Taichi screams if there’s anything he could possibly do to help them. Taichi and Agumon call out to each other — instigating a reaction in Taichi’s blue device. The resulting event causes Agumon to evolve to Greymon, a large and powerful dinosaur.
Greymon drives the Shellmon away, reverts to Agumon, and tells Taichi that he’s hungry. The kids give the Digimon some of their food to eat and, knowing that Shellmon could return, set off to look for any humans who might be in this strange place.
Tropes
- Big Damn Heroes: Greymon, who single-handedly defeats Shellmon and launches him into the ocean after digivolving.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Like Kuwagamon, Shellmon is merely an opportunistic predator defending his territory from intruders (i.e. the Chosen Children) without the outside influence of darkness. He also uses Pokémon Speak instead of full sentences unlike his return in the Dark Masters arc.
- Monster of the Week: Shellmon, who attacks out of the blue and provides the impetus for Agumon to digivolve into Greymon.
- Pokémon Speak: Shellmon utters "Shell..." a couple of times in the original Japanese.
